World War III Has Begun In Ukraine

The title of this article is not hyperbole. Indeed, war has broken out in Ukraine. Both the United States and the Russians are employing asymmetrical warfare, at least for the time being, in an attempt to control the country.

Since1980 on the recommendation of Colonel Charlie Beckwith, in the aftermath of the failure of Operation Eagle Claw, the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) was established as a component command of the United States which answers to the Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). The express mission is to conduct classified military operations in and among the various clandestine forces in the United States (e.g. Seals, Rangers and civilian mercenaries such as Blackwater now known as Academi).

List of JSOC Commanders

Most Americans have never heard of JSOC. However, the long list of JSOC commanders is impressive and notable. One name of their former commanders that jumps off the page is LTG Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of forces in Afghanistan, who was fired for comments which were critical of President Obama and his handling of the war.

Rank and NameStart and End of Term

MG Richard Scholtes December 1980 to August 1984

MG Carl Stiner August 1984 to January 1987

MG Gary E. Luck January 1987 to December 1989

MG Wayne A. Downing December 1989 to August 1991

MG William F. Garrison August 1992 to July 1994

MG Peter J. Schoomaker July 1994 to August 1996

MG Michael Canavan August 1996 to August 1998

LTG Bryan D. Brown September 1998 to December 2000

LTG Dell L. Dailey January 2001 to March 2003

LTG Stanley McChrystal September 2003June 2008

VADM William H. McRaven June 2008 to June 2011

LTG Joseph Votel June 2011 to Present

The JSCO Mission Has Morphed

Originally, the JSCOC was created to ensure interoperability and equipment standardization, plan and conduct special operationsexercises and training, develop joint special operations tactics and execute special operations missions worldwide. Essentially, JSOC was a commando operation.

The mission of JSOC has changed dramatically. The mission of JSOC is still asymmetrical, but the net effect is that JSCOC is capable of carrying out combat operations on a national scale and this is what we are subsequently witnessing in Ukraine.

One day when the smoke clears from the ashes of World War III, historians will credit JSOC as the entity being responsible for the commencement of World War III in Ukraine as civilian mercenaries, acting under the authority of LTG Votel, is instigating a civil war in Ukraine for the purposes of purging the country of pro-Russian forces.

Putin Plays the Victim Card

Putin has criticized the United States for using mercenaries to drive out pro-Russian forces from Ukraine.

The Russian Blackwater takeover of Crimea Airports

Putin’s allegations of war mongering by U.S. forces has merit and are backed up the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag who recently reported that 400 U.S. mercenariesare working with the (illegal) junta government in Ukraine to crush opposition to the Western coup in the eastern part of the country designed to turn Ukraine away from Russia by eliminating anti-coup activists in Slavyansk and the Donetsk region.

Putin’s allegations swirl around the presence of mercenaries affiliated with Academi. The readers may remember Academi when it was known as Blackwater and then it changed its name to Xe following its involvement in the murder of 17 Iraqis in Nisour Square, Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007. This mercenary group keeps changing its name in order to stay one step ahead of the burning bridge and escape oversight from Congress.

Academi’s board of directors is very impressive as it includes former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former NSA director, Bobby Ray Inman. The company’s CEO is a retired Brigadier General, Craig Nixon.

Make no mistake about it, Academi’s presence in Ukraine is a JSOC operation. JSOC is being confronted by its Russian counterpart in Ukraine. The net effect is that we are seeing the beginning of World War III through the use of asymmetrical forces. At the moment, this may only be a proxy war, but it is escalating exponentially.

Putin Is a Hypocrite

Putin is accusing the United States of using mercenary soldiers in Ukraine as he is employing the exact same strategy. Three months ago, Russian troops without insignia appeared in Crimea during the takeover. This is the Russian equivalent to JSOC as they belonged to the infamous Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana. This organization is indeed the “Blackwater” contracted by the Russian interior ministry to protect Russian military facilities and related assets. This Russian version of Blackwater seized airports in the Russian invasion of Crimea. Just like JSCOC, Vnevedomstvenaya Okhrana do not wear Russian military uniforms and their use gives Russia government plausible deniability. However, make no mistake about, this organization is carrying out operations in Ukraine as proxy members of the Russian military.

Russian Blackwater vs. American Blackwater

Which side can provoke the greatest war crimes by the other side? Which side can assassinate the central Ukrainian leaders on the other side? Which side can galvanize its Ukrainian sympathizers to pick up arms and begin killing the opposition?

The world witnessed these tactics in Kosovo and we are seeing it again. In the coming weeks we can expect to hear about the discovery of mass graves and a number of murders of key opposition leaders on both sides.

The strategy of the two sides is clear. Provoke sympathetic civilians to takeover Ukraine. The losing side will no doubt escalate its involvement in order to prevent the total loss of the country through the use of conventional military forces.

Time Is Not On Putin’s Side

With NATO war games set to commence in Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria and Poland in late June/early July, Putin must move quickly to achieve victory. If Putin allows NATO to consolidate its forces in Ukraine, Russia would likely lose its foothold in the country.

At risk is Putin’s ability to blackmail Europe with gas, 66% of the total, which flows through Ukraine. Unless Putin is happy being the head of a regional power, and not a global power, he has a very short time left to act.

Putin has already announced that he will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons against conventional forces which would come against Russia. During the next four to six weeks, events in the region are going to become very heated.

At the end of the day, there can be no doubt that World War III has broken out in Ukraine and the dominoes of escalating events are falling one by one.

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42 Comments

[…] via World War III Has Begun In Ukraine | Dave Hodges – The Common Sense Show. […]

Syrin
May 12, 2014 at 5:18 am

I don’t understand this time frame issue. Couldn’t NATO consolidate their forces in less than 48 hours if ordered to do so? They certainly would in response to anything they deemed too aggressive by Russia.

EDITOR’S NOTE: NOT A CHANCE!

james
May 12, 2014 at 5:53 am

Dave your a great man of god, keep up the great work. Dave had a dream last night, I never met you but go on ur site every day, me and you were talking about how Obama is messing up this country, but we both agreed that in 2 weeks there will be a major false flag, just wanted to let you know, god bless my friend and stay safe. Jim from jersey

Dave L
May 12, 2014 at 5:54 am

How about a list of all the countries of world that are involved that makes this a “world” war?

This time around it is not the Rubicon. It is the Dnieper. I served 25 years in the US Army. I am ashamed of what the Army has become…what it has been turned into by a cabal of degenerate psycopaths. What I see today is NOT the US Army that I joined and love. I call upon ALL sworn members of the US military to stand down. Disobey unlawful/illegal orders and relieve any officer who gives such orders from command. A war with Russia under these circumstances is UNJUST. It does not meet the criteria of St Thomas Aquinas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war

The U.S. Constitution is clear: there MUST be a lawful Declaration of War by Congress. Barring a declaration or exigent circumstances (War Powers Act – debatable constitutionality and based on TRUE necessity not criminality and banker puppet masters).

These days leading up to the full escalation of forces, military equipment and weapons into the next World War are like a 3 dimensional chess game. Just as they are disguising troops overseas in Ukraine so that blame can’t be placed upon who started what, we also have internal “military” forces, who may even be Chinese or Russian, positioning themselves to provoke and entangle Americans into a domestic confrontation.
I have a very bad feeling about the timing and location of the American Spring event. I wouldn’t be surprised if this event was planned by government insiders just to ignite a full-out attack by our government and its foreign sidekicks against patriots in this country.

William B Stoecker
May 12, 2014 at 7:21 am

At the risk of being called an “isolationist,” let me say that we should follow the advice of our Founding Fathers and simply mind our own business. And what happens in the Ukraine (or Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Kosovo, or Korea, or many other places) is no concern of ours.
Our “Defense Department,” as presently configured, defends every nation on Earth save this one. We should bring our troops home, reduce the size of our ground forces, and protect our southern border. We need to harden our grid against EMP and beef up our missile defenses.
But this cannot happen when we are ruled by the Mad Mullah, whose only goal is our destruction.

Doug Diggler
May 12, 2014 at 8:09 am

Time is not on Putin’s side? Last I heard it was not Russia that was bankrupt and insolvent, unlike the US and entire EU. This month China and Russia will ink a natural gas contract and if you think the EU can compete with China in terms of natgas consumption, you have another thing coming. This deal may start a “stampeded for the exits” regarding dollar denominated assets. Putin’s goal was to open a trade corridor from Shanghai to Portugal and Germany was onboard with that. The US and NATO high command (Oberkommando des NATO) have other ideas. Not willing or possibly not able to compete with China economically the Western Bloc has decided to go to war instead. Do you know how the West could compete with China? It could dump “Free Trade” and erect temprorary protective tarrifs while resurrecting manufacturing and investing in reparing outdated and collapsing infrastructure. Do you think America’s oligarchs want to go back to productive enterprises when they can generate BILLIONS of dollars through speculation in derivatives? We can avoid WW3, but we need to FIRE OUR RULING CLASS in order to do it!

It will only become World War III in Ukraine if the U.S. gets involved! It could have started last year in Syria when Obama wanted to attack Syria (with missiles from U.S. Navy warships and bombs from USAF bombers) over the false-flag issue of chemical weapons. But it wasn’t Assad who used the chemical weapons, it was the Islamic rebels!! And it was Vladimir Putin’s resolve to use military force that caused Obama to back down.
Russia, under Putin, is showing a resurgence of its military and nationalist pride as evidenced by
parades earlier this month in Crimea and in Moscow’s Red Square. The U.S. needs to be wary of
Russia’s intentions, but at the same time, Russia is quite concerned about what the U.S. will do… And if a land war does break out in Europe and the U.S. is involved, you can be certain
that Russian intelligence knows where the warehouses are in Germany that store U.S. tanks and fighting vehicles. It’s not hard to imagine a preemptive strike on them!
See the following May 10, 2014, WhatDoesItMean.com report:
‘Putin “Vision” Of War With “Satanic” America Terrifies Kremlin’
….’Putin made a secretive 4-day visit to the Valaam Monastery (Russian Orthodox) on the largest island in Lake Ladoga, northeast of Leningrad, in late April, where he had a vision of war with the U.S.’http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1769.htm
Also see this April report from These Last Days News:
‘The Strangelove Effect or How We are Hoodwinked into Accepting a New World War’http://www.tldm.org/News23/The-Strangelove-Effect-Or-How-We-Are-Hoodwinked-http://www.tldm.org/

time
May 12, 2014 at 9:17 am

This is like North and South Korea going at it to distract us from something more important. Like maybe a currency devaluation, US dollar losing it’s world reserve status, etc. This has not even got as bad for America as Iraq and Afghanistan. No big deal. Somebody somewhere is trying to sell us some doomsday pack.

Given all the facts about this Ukraine power play, to include the decades long run up to what transpires today, what can be reasonably expected from Moscow? Related to this question, how does the outcome of the May 11 referendum change the situation vis a vis the so-called anti-terrorist operation mounted by the illegitiment junta in Kyiv? Even as I write this, shelling cities in Eastern Ukraine continues and what responsible and humanitarian action should be taken while coup forces murder the population? Was this referendum really a Russian manipulation and provocation, or an expression of the will of Ukrainians in the Donetsk region and can we not see how the attacks ordered by the junta in Kyiv have only hammered home the very reasons that drive Eastern Ukrainians to secede? As Americans, who believe in the right of a people to self determination, do we have any position to dismiss the referendum until we know for a fact that it wasn’t an organic expression of their will? Biased accusations that it was instigated by manipulations from Moscow are absurd without hard evidence objectively produced and since such accusations must follow in support of our instigated coup in Kyiv they can only add to the absurdity. I think we the people need to be clear on this, and if we fail, we run the risk of adding affront to hypocrisy in our name, and tacitly causing the escalation ourselves. If this is truly WWIII (which I doubt), then do not the United States and EU have a clear responsibility as much as Moscow to prevent it? To do otherwise, certainly does amount to warmongering, which I contend has been operative in this situation from the beginning of it during the “cold war”.

Mike
May 12, 2014 at 10:56 am

as usual, your insight is spot on. but, then too, I’m hoping you are wrong. wondering how this fits into the West’s escalation of Syria? O has been accused of playing checkers while Putin is playing chess. we’ll see how Ukraine figures into the overall picture. keep the faith. God Bless.

The bottom line is that the United States agitated the coup in Ukraine leading up to and during the Olympics, which Russia was clearly preoccupied with. Just like in Egypt the year before the uprising there, we used NGO’s to stir it all up. Russia gave Ukraine the Crimea in the late 1950’s, and they have had a treaty allowing used of the naval facilities there since 1993, which also allows up to 25,000 troops. I am no apologist for Putin, but at least he loves his country, unlike POTUS. Unlike America, they are sick of the depravity, carnality, etc. tearing at the fabric of their country. With Benghazi, Arapaio’s posse, etc. Obama needs as many distractions as possible from his pathetic presidency.
I was speaking with a former Marine Scout Sniper of six years the other day, and they ARE being asked if they would fire on Americans, and they will, by and large, in his opinion, follow orders. When this war breaks out, the dollar index plummets, the stock and bond market tank, etc. he WILL declare martial law, and in this Marine’s opinion, he will seize a third term. People will be so distracted with what is coming on the world that there will be little resistance.

Bean Bagger
May 12, 2014 at 12:54 pm

If you say you’ll will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons that tells me Putin does not want to get arrested for war crimes and hanged! We should let him know that he will get hanged and his body put on public display and the trillions he stole will be turned over to the people.

Judy
May 12, 2014 at 1:37 pm

To read this article one would think it was Putin who started all this. But, it was a US coup and they intended to get the black sea port. It is the eastern and southern people of Ukraine who are protesting and getting killed because they want no part of the neo natzi govt that has been installed in Kiev. I think Putin is just sitting back. He does not want to take on the debt ridden Ukraine. He would like a friendly govt in Kiev and he will not let his only warm water port go. He is making deals with China and the Brics. He is letting America show their colors–supporting the shooting and burning of innocent protestors–supported the neo natzi in Kiev. It is not the American people but it’s Govt who has the hubris to think it can go around the world attacking countries, killing innocents in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, etc. and now believes it is ready to take on China and Russia. These are scarry times I believe. In the end there will be nothing left of the great empire America.
EDITOR’S NOTE: NOBODY SAID THAT IN THIS ARTICLE ABOUT PUTIN SHOULDERING 100$ OF THE BLAME- THE ARTICLE WAS A STATUS REPORT, PERIOD!

Pesky Varmint
May 12, 2014 at 1:50 pm

With regard to people who say we have no business in the Ukraine, you are
absolutely correct. There is no logical reason the USA needs to involve ourselves
in that region at all.

Except: we live in a totally screwed up world. The power in this country has the
most crucial reason of all to be involved in Ukraine: the petrodollar. Or more specifically,
the collapse of the petrodollar which Russia, as well as the rest of BRICS are central
to. War is the last gasp of a desperate USA to insure that our dollar and economic collapse
look like it’s anybody’s fault except our own.

IN MY OPINION, As an Ex Intelligence Analyst, I am more worried about North Korea, in relationship to a possible World War III! Scenario! As a Psychiatric Basket Case, Kim Jung Un Controlls the 3rd Largest Army In The World, and is making Significant Strides in modernizing his Nuclear Weapons Missile Launch Potential! The big question will be; Will He Attack South Korea to place pressure on our forces, and cause us to have to fight a war on two fronts simultaneously? Only time will tell!

rich
May 12, 2014 at 2:14 pm

The whole point is the referendums. The people want to return to Mother Russia. They have been “pushed low” by the majority, and as a minority, russian people have been discriminated against by their oppressors. They are Russian, not Ukrainian, Moldovan, Latvian or other nationalities.

The similarities to the start of WW2 are absolutely astounding. Watch Hitler’s War: What the Historians Hate to Mention. This was an underground film made in Germany. The description presented by the producers is identical to the buildup of attacking Poland. Putin is being pushed to war.

RICH99
May 12, 2014 at 2:17 pm

Dave you need to look up the classification if world war ….this is clearly rhetorical and not by definition !!

really
May 12, 2014 at 2:54 pm

Both sides are controlled by the same puppet masters. This is just another scare and diversion tactic to cover something more important. These wars are all the same.
And they are designed to be that way so when the REAL deal comes, no one will expect it.
What is going on in the world that they DON”T want us to see?

Jim from Estero, Florida
May 12, 2014 at 4:37 pm

Dave, What are your odds on us getting through the year without the NDAA & or the Executive Order 13603 being unleashed on us? See ya down @ the work camp ol’ buddy. (NOT!!!!)

[…] World War III Has Begun In Ukraine?! by Dave Hodges, The Common Sense Show The title of this article is not hyperbole. Indeed, war has broken out in Ukraine. Both the United States and the Russians are employing asymmetrical warfare, at least for the time being, in an attempt to control the country. – Since 1980 on the recommendation of Colonel Charlie Beckwith, in the aftermath of the failure of Operation Eagle Claw, the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) was established as a component command of the United States which answers to the Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). The express mission is to conduct classified military operations in and among the various clandestine forces in the United States (e.g. Seals, Rangers and civilian mercenaries such as Blackwater now known as Academi). – List of JSOC Commanders Most Americans have never heard of JSOC. However, the long list of JSOC commanders is impressive and notable. One name of their former commanders that jumps off the page is LTG Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of forces in Afghanistan, who was fired for comments which were critical of President Obama and his handling of the war. – Rank and Name Start and End of Term MG Richard Scholtes December 1980 to August 1984 MG Carl Stiner August 1984 to January 1987 MG Gary E. Luck January 1987 to December 1989 MG Wayne A. Downing December 1989 to August 1991 MG William F. Garrison August 1992 to July 1994 MG Peter J. Schoomaker July 1994 to August 1996 MG Michael Canavan August 1996 to August 1998 LTG Bryan D. Brown September 1998 to December 2000 LTG Dell L. Dailey January 2001 to March 2003 LTG Stanley McChrystal September 2003June 2008 VADM William H. McRaven June 2008 to June 2011 LTG Joseph Votel June 2011 to Present – The JSCO Mission Has Morphed Originally, the JSCOC was created to ensure interoperability and equipment standardization, plan and conduct special operations exercises and training, develop joint special operations tactics and execute special operations missions worldwide. Essentially, JSOC was a commando operation. – The mission of JSOC has changed dramatically. The mission of JSOC is still asymmetrical, but the net effect is that JSCOC is capable of carrying out combat operations on a national scale and this is what we are subsequently witnessing in Ukraine. – One day when the smoke clears from the ashes of World War III, historians will credit JSOC as the entity being responsible for the commencement of World War III in Ukraine as civilian mercenaries, acting under the authority of LTG Votel, is instigating a civil war in Ukraine for the purposes of purging the country of pro-Russian forces. – Putin Plays the Victim Card Putin has criticized the United States for using mercenaries to drive out pro-Russian forces from Ukraine. – Putin’s allegations of war mongering by U.S. forces has merit and are backed up the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag who recently reported that 400 U.S. mercenaries are working with the (illegal) junta government in Ukraine to crush opposition to the Western coup in the eastern part of the country designed to turn Ukraine away from Russia by eliminating anti-coup activists in Slavyansk and the Donetsk region. – Putin’s allegations swirl around the presence of mercenaries affiliated with Academi. The readers may remember Academi when it was known as Blackwater and then it changed its name to Xe following its involvement in the murder of 17 Iraqis in Nisour Square, Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007. This mercenary group keeps changing its name in order to stay one step ahead of the burning bridge and escape oversight from Congress. – Academi’s board of directors is very impressive as it includes former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former NSA director, Bobby Ray Inman. The company’s CEO is a retired Brigadier General, Craig Nixon. – Make no mistake about it, Academi’s presence in Ukraine is a JSOC operation. JSOC is being confronted by its Russian counterpart in Ukraine. The net effect is that we are seeing the beginning of World War III through the use of asymmetrical forces. At the moment, this may only be a proxy war, but it is escalating exponentially. – read more! […]

BP123
May 12, 2014 at 8:04 pm

All symptoms point to grand diversionary tactics employed by the elite… one thing remains certain – GRACE alone, FAITH alone, JESUS alone is the only way to salvation. Choose wisely your eternal well-being is on the line!!!

Allen
May 12, 2014 at 8:51 pm

This is contrite BS. Russia is in league with China! You have got to be stupid to think that China will not get involved in this! This is a two on one. China along with Russia will start dumping US Treasuries fastest that you can blink if the US starts a shooting war. Remember it was Timothy Guitner that call the Chinese after the 2008 collapse to BEG them not to dump the Treasuries. This is why a Debtor nation (US) does not threaten a Creditor nation(s) Russia and China! The only thing Russia and China have to do is dump Treasuries! Other countries will follow and the US is toast. No shot fired!

Sue
May 12, 2014 at 8:54 pm

Many people here are really naive. “Consolidate forces in 48 hours”??? Haha, no way. Jose. How do you consolidate when you’ve just been nuked? Answer: you don’t.

Raw Twig
May 13, 2014 at 4:38 am

USA needs to keep its nose out of everyone elses business. It stirs up shit around the globe then blames the dramas on others. Besides doesn’t the US Gov have enough dramas on its own home turf???? OOps sorry forgot, it was/is the US gov thats poisoning its own people through food, water etc. My query is where are the American people? It’s like they are all in some kind of stuper/hypnosis. They have a bogus, fraudulent Prez who is bringing war to their front door yet the people stay silent. ????????????????????

“Putin is accusing the United States of using mercenary soldiers in Ukraine as he is employing the exact same strategy. Three months ago, Russian troops without insignia appeared in Crimea during the takeover.” The Big difference is that Crimea was a Russian territory for 200 years and most people in Crimea are Russians.

[…] (Dave Hodges) The title of this article is not hyperbole. Indeed, war has broken out in Ukraine. Both the United States and the Russians are employing asymmetrical warfare, at least for the time being, in an attempt to control the country. […]

Jorge de Melo Falcão
May 13, 2014 at 3:41 pm

If Putin is hypocritical on the issue of Ukraine, which would be the U.S. in Syria paying the use of mercenaries and “terrorist” forces against Assad?

[…] will mean a 15-foot sea level rise. They say war favors the party incumbent, in which case WWIII could have an impact on November’s elections. 5 M5+ quakes. C-class flares. Sunspots […]

Stryker
May 13, 2014 at 6:55 pm

Time is on the Russian side. Let NATO and their Kiev lapdogs get bogged down into an no win counter insurgency in the east. Make plans to take out a number of washington’s ‘non military’ advisers on a certain day. Work with the Brics to dump the dollar.
One problem with that would be a low intensity war on the Russian border. Another is the west is out of time economically and has probably a fatal case of war fever so they just might start overt hostilities.
Ukraine is certainly ‘one coup too far.’
Who’ going to win the NBA?

Jesus I Trust In You!
May 13, 2014 at 6:58 pm

That story about the 400 American Mercs has been proven to be more Russian disinformation.

But politikus.ru links to another site, argumenty.ru with the “Blackwater” claim in a story by Aleksandr Grigoryev. In this likely original version dated 3 March, there were a “thousand” mercenaries in the western part of Ukraine, of which “300″ were “from Greystone,” and had arrived by a chartered plane from London. The source for the story was “former SBU agents,” i.e. from the Ukrainian Ministry of State Security who also claimed there were Syrian and Chechen fighters now in Ukraine. Grigoryev’s stories generally hew to the Kremlin line, and he has filed dubious reports blaming the CIA for the Westgate Mall terrorist attack in Kenya; accusing Jordan of a likely provocation with chemical weapons in Syria and claiming Russian soldiers were fighting in Syria. Then a month ago, the Daily Mail published a lurid story: “At least two videos published on YouTube earlier this week show burly, heavily armed soldiers with no insignia in the city, which has been gripped by pro-Moscow protests” — and embedded a video from “alexk” which has since disappeared, but which has been uploaded by a number of other users, the earliest apparently this one 3 March:

The story was presented differently today again by RIA Novosti as a source “in Ukrainian law-enforcement,” implying someone currently employed. Once again, the story was extremely thin and followed a predictable trajectory — and 150 soldiers were gained — or actually lost — along the way. Russian blogger Alexander Vinokurov wrote on his Facebook that he was watching the 21:00 pm news on Channel 1 yesterday and saw the story about “the American mercenaries from Blackwater sent to Donetsk,” sourced to state news agency RIA Novosti — an outlet that recently was brought under tighter control in the reorganized Rossiya Segodnya state media empire. RIA Novosti had the story already posted on its site at 21:00; Channel 1 had it by 21:06 and then others within the hour. “How do you like that speed?” joked Vinokurov.

The RIA Novosti story, titled “Source: Three Combat Divisions Deployed to the East of Ukraine” had only a paragraph quoting “a source in the Ukrainian law-enforcement agencies” — stating that three divisions were deployed to Donetsk and Lugansk, site of pro-Russian demonstrations that had turned violent; the first division was from the Ukrainian Interior Ministry,the second was reported from the national guard, which now is claimed to consist of Right Sector, and the third was American. No numbers of fighters was given. Here are the scant two lines in our translation:

“‘The third are Blackwater mercenaries in the uniform of the Sokol spetsnaz unit of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. Their job is to deal with the protesters as quickly and brutally as possible,” said the source.’”

Later in the day, as the story picked up steam, the Russian Foreign Ministry posted a notice about it on its Facebook page and embellished it with the detail that there were “150″ such soldiers — a detail that was not in RIA Novosti’s original 7 April report (but remember, a month ago, there were originally 300 such mercenaries in argumenti.ru):

“According to available information,internal troop divisions in the national guard of Ukraine with participation of fighters of the unlawful armed formation Right Sector are drawing toward the south-eastern districts of Ukraine, including Donetsk. Their task is the forcible suppression of protests of residents of the South-East of the country against the policy of the current Kiev authorities. Particular alarm is caused by the fact that about 150 American specialists from Greystone, a private military organization, dressed in the uniform of Sokol division fighters, have been brought into this operation.”

What happened to 150 American mercenaries? Did they get lost? Perhaps having absorbed the point that there was no longer any “Blackwater,” the Foreign Minister made sure to switch to “Greystone” — which was formerly a corporate unit of Blackwater but now a standalone business. But they felt they had better add in some number.

Only Channel 1 supplied unclear footage with its brief account of “mercenaries from the private USA military company Blackwater” dressed in the “uinform of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry Sokol spetsnaz” fighters; others did not supply any pictures or video of these supposed troops; the picture put with the Evromaiden2014 story was in fact one used for at least 7 years showing Blackwater personnel posing and the other videos existed before this fresh “Blackwater” claim today. In short, the story follows the pattern we’ve seen so many times before with stories emanating from Russia — an uncheckable kernel of a story with an anonymous source, embellishment throughout the day, synapse jumps to the pro-Kremlin networks and tabloids, and pretty soon even credible outlets are covering it.http://www.interpretermag.com/russia-this-week-communist-wins-mayoral-elections-in-novosibirsk/#0100

Propagandists Recycle American Mercenaries Hoax

We traced the last round of this story here, and pointed out that the numbers had morphed from 1,000 to 300 to 150 mercenaries, and been sourced variously in the Russian ambassador and the Russian Foreign Ministry — but was never found to have any substance whatsoever. There was not a single eye-witness report, citizen’s YouTube, Instagram photo or tweet proving the existence of anything remotely like such persons.

So now, the propagandists are trying to clean the story up — they’ve decided to go with “400″ — 150 or 300 probably sounded too meager (although the more they inflate the number, the more we’re going to ask why ordinary townspeople haven’t noticed these Americans). They also decided to give the story a more “credible” source than the Russian Foreign Ministry, which is likely to be biased on this subject — and have made the source be a German newspaper quoting German intelligence — although of course, no such claim has been made by the real German authorities:

To bolster what was a thread-bare story in the past, there’s even a picture that is labelled misleadingly as follows: “Checkpoint at Slowjansk (7 May 2014): Reports on the use of U.S. mercenaries” in German. Except that Reuters itself labelled the picture “Ukrainian soldiers walk near armoured personnel carriers at a checkpoint in near the town of Slaviansk, in eastern Ukraine May 7, 2014″ — and didn’t have any reports of American mercenaries in its 7 May wire story. (The original English-language caption identifying the soldiers as Ukrainian is even still contained in the metadata of the German copy of the Reuters photo.)

As VOA correspondent Fatima Tlisova reported, given the demand for pictures, Russian TV has obliged by supplying one still that they touched up a little by removing a tell-tale “Wendy’s” restaurant and some other English-language signs. They claimed the photo showed American mercenaries in Ukraine. In fact, it’s a photo from New Orleans in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina:http://www.interpretermag.com/category/blog/

FAKE: American mercenaries have appeared in Donetsk

On this video you can see how people dressed in NATO military uniforms run through the city with guns and bulletproof vests. This, and many other media sources reported that the video shows that locals chase the mercenaries and shout: «Blackwater!». On the other hand, Press TV reported that people pursue local resident, not military.

The video was shared by users on YouTube. But most of the uploaded versions begin with the mercenaries. However, we are interested in the moment and a little earlier, on 0:12 minutes of this video, where one can hear the people shouting: “Go to work! Go to work!”. They shout to the Deputy of Donetsk regional council. Similar story can be found on the «LB» website. They wrote about a group of people, who attacked Andrew Shishatskiy the former governor of the Donetsk region.